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Guta Blas Weintraub papers

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 1065-019

Collection Overview

Images and newspaper clippings of Guta Blas Weintraub, a Jewish resident of Łódź, Poland, who survived the Holocaust and immigrated to the United States after World War II, settling in Charleston, South Carolina. Pre-war images show members of the Blas and Weintraub families in Łódź and Bodzentyn, Poland. Wartime images show Leon Weintraub in a work camp in Starachowice, Poland, and Guta Blas in Sweden after her rescue. Post-war images show the Weintraubs in the Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp and in Charleston. Newspaper clippings describe Blas's resistance when facing execution at Majowka and her later testimony against the guard who shot her.

Dates

  • circa 1922-2008

Creator

Language of Material

Materials in English

Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Copyright Notice

The nature of the College of Charleston's archival holdings means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. Special Collections claims only physical ownership of most archival materials.

The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.

Biographical Note

Guta Blas (1924-2008) was born in Łódź, Poland. Her father, Noach Blas, owned a textile factory and was able to send Blas and her younger brother, Moshe, to private Jewish schools. By 1940, Blas and her family escaped Łódź, which had been occupied by the Germans in September 1939, and fled to Starachowice-Wierzbnik, Poland, where Blas's mother, Bleema Goldwasser, had relatives. Blas and her parents were forced into the Tartak work camp in Starachowice, where Blas met her fiancé, Leon Weintraub, a fellow inmate.

In late 1943, Blas and her family were moved to another camp, Majowka, in preparation for deportation to Auschwitz. Once there, Blas and three hundred other inmates, including her parents, brother, and fiancé, were lined up in front of open graves to be executed. Before the executions could begin, Blas jumped on one of the Nazi guards from behind and attempted to choke him, creating a disturbance that saved all inmates from execution that day. Though Blas was shot in the head by the officer she attacked, the wound was superficial, and she was deported to Auschwitz with her family.

At Auschwitz, Blas's father and brother were sent to the Buna work camp. Blas and her mother remained in Auschwitz until they were forced to march to Ravensbruck in January 1945. Her mother died shortly thereafter. Blas was rescued by the Swedish Red Cross and spent the remainder of the war in Sweden. After the war ended, Blas returned to Poland to look for her father and brother and learned that they had both been killed. She also learned that Leon Weintraub, her fiancé, had survived and was in a hospital in Germany. Blas traveled to see him, and they married and stayed in the Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp before immigrating to the United States in 1947.

Extent

0.1 linear feet (2 folders)

Abstract

Images and newspaper clippings of Guta Blas Weintraub, a Jewish resident of Łódź, Poland, who survived the Holocaust and immigrated to the United States after World War II, settling in Charleston, South Carolina. Pre-war images show members of the Blas and Weintraub families in Łódź and Bodzentyn, Poland. Wartime images show Leon Weintraub in a work camp in Starachowice, Poland, and Guta Blas in Sweden after her rescue. Post-war images show the Weintraubs in the Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp and in Charleston. Newspaper clippings describe Blas's resistance when facing execution at Majowka and her later testimony against the guard who shot her.

Collection Arrangement

Materials are described at the folder level.

Acquisitions Information

Materials donated in 2000 by Blanche Weintraub Wine.

Related Material

Related materials in College of Charleston Special Collections include the Harry and Erika Blas Collection (Mss 1065-029).

Processing Information

Processed by Rebecca McClure, September 2011.

Title
Inventory of the Guta Blas Weintraub papers, circa 1922-2008
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by: Rebecca McClure; machine-readable finding aid created by: Rebecca McClure
Date
2011
Description rules
Dacs
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Sponsor
Funding from the Council on Library and Information Resources supported the processing of this collection and encoding of the finding aid.

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Special Collections
College of Charleston Libraries
66 George Street
Charleston South Carolina 29424
(843) 953-8016
(843) 953-6319 (Fax)